Radical Honesty at the MJCCA Book Festival
November 8, 2009 at 11:00 am by Wyatt Williams in Books
GETTING TESTY: A.J. Jacobs appears at the Book Festival of the MJCCA Fri., Nov. 11. 7:30 p.m.
In the backwoods of Virginia, a man named Brad Blanton is hard at work promoting the Radical Honesty movement. Blanton, who calls himself “white trash with a Ph.D.,” thinks people would be happier if they stopped lying. As in — I woud be happier if I just told you I’d rather be drinking beer than writing this article. Awkward moment, right?
For his recent book The Guinea Pig Diaries, author A.J. Jacobs visits Blanton for two weeks to test out Radical Honesty. He tells his in-laws they suck at giving presents; calls a friend to let him know he’s been fantasizing about his wife; and admits he’s bored while his wife is talking. Radical Honesty’s just one of many experiments Jacobs undertakes in his book, including outsourcing his daily routine to a team of workers in India and guiding his every action by the question, “What would George Washington do?” But Radical Honesty doesn’t feel as forcibly zany as the other tasks. Anyone could do it. I could just keep telling you I’m thinking more about the cold, delicious cans of beer waiting for me in my fridge than I am about work.
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(Photo Courtesy Simon & Schuster)
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